The majority of papers dealing with concrete concentrate on one property at a time, thus giving a somewhat distorted picture of the importance of the various parameters in achieving a good concrete structure. The theme of this paper is that this objective can be achieved only by a seamless process of a number of operations, which are briefly discussed. Among the topics presented are the composition of today’s cements, selection of concrete mixes, use of binders such as fly ash and silica fume, self-consolidating concrete and sustainable construction. The article concludes with a review of special aspects of precast concrete.
